Memory of the Sun
by Myno
Summary: There are things wrong with this world, despicable, horrible things. People who lie and monsters living in the shadows around us. Demons inside our minds that make us remember all the faults. Even with all of that,we can still remember the sun. The warm hot sun. Some AU, some canon, all Zuko drabbles.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello all!! This is just something that came to me as I was dealing with some writers block. It's based off of a post I had seen on Instagram.**

 **Enjoy!!! :)**

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Maybe if I hadn't been so young, I could've done something about it, but that's all regret is isn't it? Hoping, wondering, fearing, worrying about the days before, the things that can't be changed. Knowing the truth about it though doesn't change the fact that I am still plagued by the memory of regret.

Perhaps with more muscles and more experienced firebending I could have taken him, my father. Then again, maybe not. Maybe he would have done to me what he did to her.

There wasn't a week that went by where at least one day I held her until she went to sleep. Far too many times, I stayed by her side the entire night only to have her reject me in the morning, choosing to pretend a problem that existed didn't exist.

Her young mind didn't know how to process the anger my father displayed toward her. She didn't know what to think when fire was flung at her and who could blame her? I'm sure if it were me he was tormenting, things might be a little different. He probably wouldn't have held back the way he did with her, the scar on my face proof of that.

I remember she would shake so badly sometimes, that she wouldn't even notice me holding her. It was during that time all I could hear was the words she was whispering to herself over and over, those painful words.

"He still loves me, I know he still loves me."

It made me so sick to think that she could still want his approval, despite the life she was made to live. The scars on her lithe body, the look of fear and terror in the eyes of a little girl who could incinerate any living thing with just a thought.

She was always violent toward me, destructive in the palace, and even manipulative to her friends and those things made her a monster. But every single time my mother had to tend to the burns on Azula's body that we all shared, everytime she was forced to wear long sleeves to hide the scars, every time she ran to her room crying from the pain, I remembered there was a bigger monster under our roof.

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 **That was really dark and kind of depressing. Basically, Ozai abused his family and Azula got theworst of it because he cared the most about her being perfect. I'm doing a drabble series for this so if you guys have any ideas, PM me.**

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	2. Chapter 2

**Hello all!!! Thank you so much to those who followed and favorited the first chapter, it really means the world to me!! :)**

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Even in the dark damp light, I can feel the hatred emanating from my father. The remarks I'm sure he was imagining made of pure venom sitting on his tongue, the unadulterated loathing in his eyes.

 _Nice to see you too dad_ , I think to myself.

"What do you want?" he spits at me.

I freeze at first, but then I recover from the venom he's thrown. "I brought you some tea." I set the tray down in front of the cell. "This tea isn't made to drink, it's made for you to inhale the aroma. Uncle says that it's the best tea for calming the mind and strengthening the senses." I gather up my robes and sit on the floor with him. "It's called Sengi, from the Sengin bush."

I can see him sniff the air for the scent of the tea and I can see the recognition on his face when he realizes where he remembers the scent from.

"This smell…." He whispers.

I smile at his recognition. "Yeah, she used to wear a perfume made from the Sengin bush all the time. She used to tell me that she needed it because she had to deal with unreasonable people all the time. It wasn't until all these years later I realize that she meant you."

He looks at me deep into my eyes, he must've figured it out by now. "You found her,didn't you?"

 _Bingo_. "Yeah, I did."

He leans forward. "Where?"

"Why should I tell you? What do you care about it?"

He sits but and turns away from me. "I didn't love your mother back then and I don't love her now." He turns his head toward me. "The question is why have you come down to tell me?"

I shrug. "I don't know, maybe I just thought you should know what's going on with your family."

"You are no family of mine." He says with such defiance and certainty that I forget that he is still my father. "You lost that bond when you betrayed me."

I scratch the back of my head. "I don't think we ever really had that relationship." I stand up slowly. "I'm not saying that I don't want you to be part of my family, but it's not too late for us to have some semblance of a relationship."

He turns his nose up at me and looks away. That's all the evidence I need. I know we'll never have a good relationship, I just needed to come down here and remind myself of that.

"That's all?" He leans forward as far as he can, as far as the chains will allow him. His eyes dead set on the ground. "You came down here to tell me about your ridiculously boring peaceful life!" He looks up now, eyes full of rage, spit flying from his mouth. "I was the Phoenix King! I don't care about your miserable little feelings! I hate you! I hope one day you rot in the same prison you've left me in!"

I muster up some courage to focus and say these words. "I'm sure you remember that girl I married some time ago. She's pregnant with my child."

"Bah, what do I care about some stupid little girl and her stupid belly? I hope the kid turns out just as bad a disappointment as you!"

For just a moment, I lose my cool and the air becomes hotter around me. Using every fiber of strength in my body and every ounce of composure I have left, I say what I came here to say. "That child's name is Izumi, and she is the heir to the throne. She is a far better firebender than Azula was and an even greater strategist than Uncle ever was. She will be the greatest Firelord this country will ever see because she has a compassion that is far greater than your passion."

I turn around and storm out of Ozai's dungeon, leaving him to rot, but as I do I swear I heard him whisper.

"Good."

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 **Theres the second chapter, this one was more to explore the relationship between Zuko and his father. I hope you enjoyed it, if you did leave me a review!!**

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	3. Chapter 3

**Hello all!!! This chapter is a highschool AU, nobody has any bending abilities.**

 **Enjoy!!!**

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There's a saying in my family: Don't touch the water, water drowns you. To someone who isn't initiated, that saying probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but to me, someone who's been a part of the gang scene my entire life, I can't help but see the implications of it.

There was never a time I didn't know I was a part of gang. My father never hid that from us, he said he loved us too much. He may have said that, but any fool could see there were ulterior motives to telling us when we were young. I think he told us because he wants us to follow in his footsteps. I never did anything to compromise his plans either, I never wanted to. That's why recent events have me so off-kilter.

Let me start there. She's five feet and nine inches of gorgeous. She has chocolate brown skin, long dark brown hair, and wonderfully hazel eyes. She's unlike any girl I've ever met.

She doesn't carry herself like a normal girl either. When she walks, it's like watching a model. When she speaks in class, the room stops to listen. She's part if the school choir and when she sings, it darn near breaks your heart.

How do I know all these things? Because I've been watching her in the most non creepy way possible. She is literally the most beautiful girl that I've ever laid eyes on. The only problem: our colors don't match.

If she was just some girl that chose the wrong side, that would be fine, I think I could convince my dad to work with that. My dad would cut all her ties with her previous gang and would initiate her in Fiery Red. Everything would be fine, but she's not just some girl.

She just the same and opposite of me. While I am the son of the leader of The Reds, she is the daughter of the leader of The Blues.

I know right, I'm so screwed.

Our respective gangs have been on opposite sides of a drug war for longer than I can remember. Even when we were just kids in kindergarten, my parents told me not to talk to her, to stay away from her. Judging by her reaction to me, her parents told her the same thing.

Our whole lives we've been raised to hate each other, to stay out of each other's lives. There's never been a problem, so why is it that I feel this way. Why is it that every time she walks into a room my attention just seems to gravitate toward her?

Maybe it's just that I'm thinking about it too much, surely no one else could be capable of having feelings for someone in my situation. Then of course, the universe proves me wrong. When I look at my sister Azula, I can clearly see her staring at Katara's older brother Sokka and I see her do something that I've never seen her do ever.

I see her make the tiniest of smiles.

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 **It's also a gang AU in which everyone is part of a gang depending on their nation. It should also be noted that I hate the Zutara pairing but the it was very convenient for the direction I wanted to go in this story.**

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	4. Chapter 4

**Hello all!!! This is a continuation of the previous chapter from the point of view of Katara.**

 **Enjoy!!! :)**

 ** _-000-_**

"It's not like I can't see him staring, he's being way too obvious about it." my best friend Yue says to me. We're in the cafeteria right now, I'm studying for an upcoming test while she is fawning over all the boys.

She does that hand wave where she doesn't just move her hand but it also wiggles her fingers. When I look up to see who she waved at, I look back down in my book in utter disgust.

"If he likes me, why doesn't he just come up and ask me out, I wouldn't be opposed to it."

 _Because he's not looking at you, he's looking at me,_ is what I want to say, but I keep my mouth shut because I know she won't understand. Yue and I are both Blues but she really doesn't seem to understand what that means. I obviously understood, we don't associate ourselves with the other gangs, least of all the Reds.

That hasn't stopped her from flirting with every boy we come across. I look up again and I see her blowing kisses to him. I sigh exasperatedly, sometimes I don't remember why we're even friends.

I try to focus on the book in front of me but every time I try to start reading the words again, they just start to jumble. I start focusing so hard on that I'm getting lost in my own thoughts. Everytime I bring myself back, I realize that I'm bringing myself back from thinking about him. I allow myself a peek, a quick glance at him. I lift my head up ever so slyly, it was completely unnoticeable unless you were looking for it.

I look across the lunchroom and there he is. His red shirt with the white collar. His sleeves that have been pushed up just the tiniest bit so that they stop mid-forearm. His eyes gleam with yellowish gold glow that is so piercing, I can see it all the way from over here.

I catch myself staring, mentally berating myself for being so foolish. There is no possible way that we could be together, we are too different, there is too much bad history between our families. My parents made sure I understand that me and Sokka can never be friends with either him or Azula and I'm sure he's been told the same things. He's never tried to pursue anything but mutual avoidance with me. But I can't help it, there's something about him, something that's not quite attraction or infatuation even.

I look back up at him to sneak another glance but he's staring right at me. Right into my soul, his piercing eyes don't have the same hardness to them though. He doesn't look like he's looking down on me or regarding me with disgust. This is different. If I didn't know better, I would say his eyes look soft.

Yue tries to wave and get his attention. I see his eyes shift over to her for a moment and then back to me. When he waves, I know without a shadow of a doubt that he's waving not just to be friendly, but he's acknowledging that we are the same.

We both have been forced to hate someone that we don't know, someone that we would like to know. So when I wave back, its not mocking or condescending, its acknowledgement that though we may never be friends or lovers, we are just the same. Maybe that's what it is about him. I can feel the sadness, the rage. We see the world the same way.

So I know that I'm not crazy when I see Sokka smile every time Azula walks in to the room.

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 **Still not a fan of Zutara but whatever. I am a fan of Sokkla so if anyone knows any good stories, PM me.**

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